Sanctuary: Of Safety and Suspicion
by Blade for Hire
Summary: The order had been given. It came down from the highest authorities in the Brotherhood, and I was to be the executor. I was the only one who could do it. This would be...interesting...


Sanctuary: Of Safety and Suspicion

He thought I wouldn't do it; that I'd baulk at his order; that I'd turn and run when he gave the directive. But no. It doesn't matter who the target is; a contract is a contract. It clearly surprised Lucian when I accepted the order without hesitation. I guess he didn't think I had it in me.

I descended the ladder into the sanctuary through the well entrance and turned to walk into the main room, looking around to assess the situation. Teinaava was sitting in his chair in a darkened corner of the room, reading a book on some ancient battle long past. Antoinetta Marie was walking toward the living quarters, presumably to make the evening meal, and Telaendril seemed to be just wandering around the room aimlessly. This would definitely not be as easy as other contracts I'd had in the past. Unlike previous missions, this time my targets were trained killers, skilled in the arts of stealth and assassination like myself, and wary to other predators that may try to take their prey. It would be difficult, but I had one distinct advantage. The very name of the place in which I now stood told it all: _Sanctuary_. They thought they were safe here. They thought nothing could touch them in this place, their safe haven from the world around them. Soon, I would prove them dead wrong.

I followed Antoinetta into the living quarters and loitered around as she started preparing the evening meal for everyone. I walked over to her and struck up casual conversation as she started cooking, mixing various ingredients into a large pot. The conversation ploy worked, properly masking my true intentions. She never knew what was going on. Every time she turned her back, I slipped a slice of the poisoned apple Lucian had given me into the pot, tainting the brew with its venomous touch. Antoinetta took many sips of the stew over time, checking it to see if was just right, and adding little bits of spices and seasoning to bring to perfection. It took a fair amount of my discipline to suppress a smile. Little did she know she was digging her own grave with her spoon.

It came to fruition when she finally declared the meal ready and turned to go get everyone else. Before she could reach the door, though, she stopped and doubled over. She grabbed her throat and coughed hard, hacking up a wad of blood. She fell to her knees as her breathing became harsh and labored. I quickly stepped over to her and cupped my hand over her mouth, smothering her breathing even further and stifling any attempt to scream. It wasn't long before she slowly sagged to the floor and death took her into his fold. I knelt over her and touched a gold coin to the blood on her lips before placing it in her hand.

Gogron walked into the room to get some dinner at that moment to find me kneeling over Antoinetta's body. He looked startled and asked what happened. He apparently bought my half-truth that something must have been wrong with the food, and went over to the pot of poisoned stew to investigate. Unfortunately, he didn't taste it like I'd hoped. He only sniffed it several times. This didn't bode well. I knew that Orcs had a fairly acute sense of smell, meaning Gogron might be able to smell the taint in the food. He smelled the stew and said that something was afoul here as he turned to leave the room. I only had a moment to act. From where I was kneeling, I jabbed my leg out as he walked by and hooked it through his feet as he passed, tripping him to the floor. Capitalizing on the move, I shifted sideways and pressed my knee into Gogron's back between his shoulder blades while I drew my steel shortsword from the sheath on my back. Before he could fight back, I grabbed the Orc's chin and pulled his head up as I raked my blade across his throat. He stiffened for a moment, then went limp as he slipped from his mortal coil. I dipped a coin in the blood pooling around his neck and set it in his muscular palm. The markers were not so much of a signature this time as they were a way of informing Lucian that the deed was done.

Two down, five to go, and the sudden disappearance of these two wouldn't go unnoticed for long. I left the living quarters to check the scene. That heavy armor Gogron always wore made an awful clatter when he fell, and I needed to see if anyone else was getting wise to the charade. Teinaava was still reading in his chair and Telaendril was nowhere to be seen. So far, so good, but these were trained assassins, and they knew how to properly investigate a disappearance like this. I only had so much time before they would start to notice things that were out of place.

I walked across the room and pushed through the door to the training area, where I found Mraaj-Dar where he could normally be found. He was casting spells at the burnt, singed, and frozen target in the corner. I looked around the room to make sure we were alone before I quietly drew my blade from its sheath and silently stepped toward him. Khajit hearing was legendary, meaning anything less than silence would give away my presence. My stealth training prevailed over Mraaj-Dar's hearing, though, and I stepped up silently behind him as he lit off another spell. Before he could cast another, I grabbed his shoulder and jabbed the blade into his lower back, twisting it once before yanking it out and shoving him face-down to the floor. I touched a gold coin to his bloody robes and left it in his hand before wiping my blade off on his sleeve and turning to leave. As I walked away, I heard Mraaj-Dar mutter something behind me, gasping out something about being a traitor to the Family and the Brotherhood. I told him that I was no traitor as I walked around behind him and knelt down to wrap my arm around his head. I twisted and heard his neck break with a loud but muffled pop, making sure he was dead this time. I stood and returned my blade to its sheath as I left the training room.

I closed the training room door behind me and looked around the main room. Teinaava was still in his chair, but eliminating him would leave me too vulnerable right now. I'd have to deal with him later, maybe even after everyone else was dead. His twin, on the other hand, was in a much more compromising position. I went to Ocheeva's quarters to find her sitting at her small table, writing something on a parchment. She acknowledged me with a nod and her usual friendly greeting, apparently unaware of the three lives I'd already set free earlier in the evening. She went on talking about a contract that she thought I would like to take a look at as I carefully made my way around behind her. She continued rattling on as I quietly drew my blade behind her back. In a practiced motion, I slipped the blade around in front of her neck and grabbed the tip with my other hand before yanking toward myself, slicing into her throat and collapsing her windpipe at the same time. She gasped and grabbed her throat briefly before slouching down in her chair and sliding from this life into the next. I bloodied the coin and left it in her hand, whispering a quiet thank you for being so kind and helpful to me over all the years I'd lived here.

Telaendril rounded the corner asking Ocheeva something about a contract she was working on when she found me standing over the Argonian's corpse. She looked at me and froze with a stunned look on her face. I took advantage of her hesitation and reared back to throw my short blade. It flew at her with perfect spin and sank deep into her chest, taking her off her feet and landing her on her back. I dashed up to her and grabbed the blade's handle with both hands, twisting once to ensure the wound would be lethal. She winced and tensed with the pain briefly before her body relaxed as her spirit departed this plane. After pulling my blade from her chest, I touched a coin to her blood and placed it in her petite hand.

Teinaava no doubt would have heard the scuffle, and therefore had to be dealt with now. I walked into the main room and up to him to find him still engrossed in his book. He noticed me and closed his book to address me. I made it quick for him. He saw my blade in my hand and looked at me to ask what I needed. He looked surprised when I told him I needed his life. No sooner had I spoken the words did I take my blade in both hands and ram it up to the hilt through his chest, nearly throwing his chair backward. He looked down at the shortsword in his chest with wide eyes before his head fell back with a dying gasp. I tried to retrieve my blade only to be rewarded with a shake of the chair and the corpse. It took my bracing my foot against Teinaava's chest and pulling hard to yank the blade out of the wooden chair behind his back. I let some of his blood drip on a coin that I left in his hand, rewarding all his years of faithful service to Sithis by giving him a chance to meet him face to face.

Now came the part I was looking forward to the least. All but one had been eliminated: Vicente Valtieri. Not only was Vicente a three hundred year old vampire, but he had trained me when I first joined the Brotherhood, meaning he had an active knowledge of how I moved and fought. Bringing him down would be most difficult.

Never one to put off an unenviable task, I sheathed my blade and started quietly walking down toward Vicente's quarters. I came to the door to find it open and Vicente standing on the threshold, a silver longsword hanging from his belt. I dropped any effort to hide and stood about two paces in front of him. He looked at me and shook his head, asking why I had done this. Vicente's three hundred years of life had given him something of a sense about people. It was hard to keep things hidden from him. I maintained a well-trained killer's stoicism as I told him that it had been demanded by the Black Hand itself. He nodded at the response, seeming to accept it as his fate. I simply nodded to him when he told me that he wouldn't make it easy on me. In a lightning flash of movement, he reached for his sword with one hand while reaching for me with the other.

I didn't have time to think; I only reacted. I grabbed both of Vicente's hands at the wrists and cranked his arms around, flipping him through the air and landing him on his back. I dropped down to put a knee in his chest as I drew my blade and staked it down. Vicente looked shocked as he looked at the blade in his chest and then at me. Then, surprisingly enough, he smiled. He smiled as he reached up and patted my shoulder as he had done so many times when I was young and in training. He said "Well done, my child" before his head fell back against the stone floor. I knelt there for a moment, catching my breath and going over the quick fight in my mind. I had surprised even myself. I thought Vicente would present a far greater challenge than that. I withdrew my blade and bloodied a coin that I left in his hand like all the others.

I walked into the center of the main room of the sanctuary, fresh blood running from my blade to the floor. It was done. The sanctuary had been purged. All the marks eliminated, and all the markers left behind. I took a moment to think about what I had done here. In spite of this place being my home for so long, and these people being my only family, I still felt nothing. It was the same feeling I had when I'd killed a pirate captain on his own ship, and when I'd killed a retired Imperial Legion captain. It was even the same as when I killed off a house full of doomed guests, one by one. A feeling of accomplishment, and then nothing.

A sadistic smile curled across my lips. Nothing, which meant no fear or sadness at their deaths either. Lucian would be impressed. I shook the remaining blood off my shortsword before returning it to its sheath. My blade's thirst had been slaked, as had Sithis' desire for blood. And at the same time, I'd firmly proven that "safe" was a relative term. No place was truly safe. A low chuckle escaped my throat as I walked to the black door and left to share the news.


End file.
